The GWJ cRPG Club Main Thread Part 2 - Now Playing Kenshi

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So, hello everyone.

As has been discussed on the Original cRPG Club Main Thread, Our inestimable leader Godzilla Blitz has retired while he's ahead, and I have agreed to take over while he heads off to Deified Status.

I am a very great believer in the maxim, "If it isn't broken, then don't fix it" and fully intend to carry on managing this club - and thread - as it has done so for the previous 4 years. That doesn't mean to say I'm not open to suggests from the membership of course - and anyone else who'd like to join - but I'm fairly sure a great part of the success of this thread as been down to how it's be run. If there are any suggestions or ideas then let me know and we can figure out what we all want to do.

cRPG Club Designs / Branding / Logo

In the last Conference Call Amoebic discussed getting merch created for the different clubs running on the forums. If there a mass consensus that we'd like something for this club then let me know and I'll get in touch to see what I can sort out. Be prepared though, the artistic of you out there might be needed for Logo design!

That's it, I hope you all enjoy carrying on with this club under new management!

Sorbicol.

What's This?
Have you started Baldur's Gate II six times and never made it past Level 4? Well, that's a bit unfortunate because we've played it now and you'll have to pick something else from your steam pile and try and give that a go instead! Mind you all is not lost, there is always the retirement home!

Regardless, if you like playing cRPGs, then this is the group for you! We are a group of GWJers playing Computer RPGs together for the fun of a shared experience. The main thought is that we all have some great RPGs that have been sitting in our backlogs for quite a while and never seem to get cleared off the pile. By picking an RPG that's been out for a while and getting a number of people to play it at the same time, there is more motivation to finish and the conversation about the gameplay makes the experience all the better.

What's currently going on?

We are playing Legend of Grimrock until June 30th, 2023
we are playing Vampyr until March 31st, 2023

What types of games do we play?
1. Role-Playing Games that are at least a year old.
2. Games that are good, relatively inexpensive, and available.
3. Non-Japanese RPGs (there is already a GWJ Club for Japanese RPGs)
4. Computer Role-Playing Games, but console RPGs are not necessarily excluded.

How do we decide on games to play?
• We have four days of nominations and seconding. To be included in the voting games must be nominated by one member and seconded by a different member. Each member is allowed one nomination, and may second any number of nominations. Games nominated must have had their western release at least one year before the nomination month and may not be a game the club has already played.

After the nomination round, we have two rounds of voting.

• First, we have a Pick 6 Round of voting. Each voter can vote for up to 6 games from the candidate pool, in any order of preference. This round lasts three days. The top six vote-getters get carried to the Ranked Voting Round. In the case of ties, we will always carry at least 5 games to the final round, but no more than 7 games. Ties will be broken in a way to send 5-7 games to the final round.

• Second, we use a Ranked Choice Voting system to select a winner from the final round candidates. Basically, you vote by listing the candidate games in order of your preference of play, with the top game on your list your top preference for play. You can rank as many candidate games as you like. (You do not have to rank all the games.) Once everyone has voted, we use Ranked Choice Voting to determine the winner, as shown in this one-minute video. Members can vote without having nominated anything! Vote for stuff you want to play.

If games are tied for first after the Ranked Choice round, we hold a 48-hour tiebreaker among the games tied for first. Members may vote for one or both games. If more than two games are tied for first after the Ranked Choice round, we'll use another round of Ranked Choice Voting among the tied games, so members list their games in order of preference.

How long do we have to play each game?
6 months, but we start new games every 3 months, so months 4-6 will likely be quieter than months 1-3. If you don't finish in six months, you can still finish and get level up credit by posting your progress in The CRPG Club Retirement Home, but it's likely to be pretty lonely in there. Definitely more fun to play with everyone in the first 3 months.

What are the guidelines on conversation spoilers?
For BIG spoilers, please use the spoiler tag. (No! I am your father!) Tactics, strategies, general story progression likely don't need them.

Can anyone join? How do I join?
All are most welcome! Post in this thread with "I'm interested" or something like that and BOOM, your lifetime membership is fully activated. In 3-6 weeks you will receive your secret handshake in the mail. Check for it daily.

How do I level up?
Start and finish a group game during the gameplay duration, go up a level! No penalties for not finishing. Highest level member gets to decide the year's secret handshake at the annual club convention that does not ever happen.

Game History
2023
Legend of Grimrock January 1st - Jun 30th 2023

2022
Vampyr (Oct 1st (give or take) - March 31st, 2023)
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark (July 1st - December 31st, 2022)
Baldur's Gate 2 (April 1 - September 30, 2022)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (January 1 - June 30, 2022)

2021
Torment: Tides of Numenera (October 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022)
The Outer Worlds (July 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021)
Disco Elysium (April 1, 2021 - September 30, 2021)
Tyranny (January 1, 2021 - June 30, 2021)

2020
Banner Saga (October 1, 2020 - March 31, 2020)
Wasteland 2 (July 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020)
Divinity Original Sin 2 (4/1 - 9/30) (31 starters, 11 finishers, 35.5% completion)
The Witcher 3 (1/1 - 6/30) (42 starters, 14 finishers, 33.3% completion)

2019
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (10/1 - 3/31/20) (13 starters, 9 finishers, 69.2% completion)
Baldur's Gate (7/1 - 12/31) (26 starters, 15 finishers, 57.7% completion)
Arcanum (4/1 - 9/30) (27 starters, 8 finishers, 29.6% completion)
Dragon Age: Origins (1/1 - 6/30) (29 starters, 13 finishers, 44.8% completion)

2018
Divinity: Original Sin 1 (10/1-3/31/19) (27 starters, 11 finishers, 40.7% completion)
Jade Empire (7/1-12/31) (35 starters, 17 finishers, 48.6% completion)
Pillars of Eternity (4/1 - 9/30) (42 starters, 20 finishers, 47.6% completion)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall DC (1/20 - 6/30) (35 starters, 19 finishers, 55.9% completion)

Game Key
01 - Dragonfall
02 - Pillars of Eternity
03 - Jade Empire
04 - Divinity: Original Sin
05 - Dragon Age: Origins
06 - Arcanum
07 - Baldur's Gate
08 - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
09 - The Witcher 3
10 - Divinity Original Sin 2
11 - Wasteland 2
12 - Banner Saga
13 - Tyranny
14 - Disco Elysium
15 - The Outer Worlds
16 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
17 - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
18 - Baldur's Gate 2
19 - Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
20 - Vampyr
21 - Legend of Grimock

* = Retirement Home Completion

Level 16 Membership
Alien Love Gardener - 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21

Level 15 Membership
Redherring - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 13, 15, 17
Sorbicol - 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 14, 17, 19, 18*, 21
Math - 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 1*, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21

Level 14 Members
ubrakto - 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21

Level 13 Members

Level 12 Members
*Legion* - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 7, 9, 12, 11*, 21

Level 11 Members

Level 10 Members
Godzilla Blitz - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 11, 14, 13
gewy - 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20

Level 9 Members

Level 8 Members
Clumber - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10
pyxistyx - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10*
merphle - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 21

Level 7 Members
Sundown - 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19

Level 6 Members
benign1 - 1, 3, 7, 2*, 12*, 14
brokenclavicle - 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19

Level 5 Members
imbiginjapan - 2, 3, 4, 7, 9
Shadout - 2, 5, 7, 8, 14

Level 4 Members
beanman101283 - 1, 7, 13, 14
LastSurprise - 2, 12, 14, 19

Level 3 Members
Skraut - 1, 2, 3
tundra - 1, 5, 6
RnRClown - 1, 4, 7
fuzzyslug - 1, 3, 9
Cronox - 2, 3, 9
AUs_TBirD - 3, 8, 12

Level 2 Members
steinkrug - 1, 2
Hardek - 1, 2
SillyRabbit - 1, 2
jdzappa - 2, 12
deceivious1 - 11, 12
strangederby - 10, 13
WizKid - 7, 17
SpaceDog - 1, 20

Level 1 Members
JohnKillo - 1
WellAdjusted - 1
Feegle - 1
Freyja - 3
Eleima - 3
Toddland - 2
MathGoddess - 2
Dwango - 3
funkasaurus_rex - 5
Lakerboy32 - 5
kuddles - 5
tboon - 7
JLS - 9
Stengah - 9
Zoso1701 - 10
polypusher - 10
Mario_Alba - 10
Mr GT Chris - 12
bfgp - 13
malor - 13
GioClark - 13
billt721 - 13
Timespike - 14
Agathos - 14
prodiginy - 17
hbi2k - 19
Malkroth - 19
Stele - 19

ubrakto

Posted: June 27, 7:53 PM

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I'll second Greedfall.

Neutrino

Posted: June 27, 8:00 PM

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Sorbicol wrote:

Neutrino wrote:

I'll be playing Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark with the jRPG club so I'll second that here.

Also, my nomination: Star Traders: Frontiers

Something a little lighter that I can also play on my tablet, just in case the Strategy club picks something meaty!

As much as I like that nomination (a game I own that I've not really touched) I'm not sure it's really an RPG? It's more like an open sandbox game I would have thought.

However, happy to stand with a majority decision!

I also own it but haven't played for more than an hour. I was really just going off their description:

Command your ship and crew as a space pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more in Star Traders: Frontiers – an epic space RPG from Trese Brothers Games.
Venture forth into a massive open universe, rich with adventure and the lore of the Star Traders. Choose your path by assembling and commanding your custom crew and spaceship in a constantly evolving galaxy torn by internal strife, political intrigue, and alien threats

All good if it doesn't properly fit into the RPG genre.

*Legion*

Posted: June 27, 8:44 PM

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KENSHI

Sorbicol

Posted: June 27, 10:28 PM

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Neutrino wrote:

I also own it but haven't played for more than an hour. I was really just going off their description:

Command your ship and crew as a space pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more in Star Traders: Frontiers – an epic space RPG from Trese Brothers Games.
Venture forth into a massive open universe, rich with adventure and the lore of the Star Traders. Choose your path by assembling and commanding your custom crew and spaceship in a constantly evolving galaxy torn by internal strife, political intrigue, and alien threats

All good if it doesn't properly fit into the RPG genre.

Of the hour or two I've played of it, there doesn't seem to be a clear main plot you follow, and what there is is entirely optional. However, given Skyrim's main plot is there to taken or not taken, maybe I'm being overly fastidious.

I'll second and we'll let the masses decide.

jdzappa

Posted: June 28, 1:14 AM

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Is it too late to second Greedfall? Also, I think there’s a lot of excitement in the strategy club barracks to play Fell Seal fwiw.

gewy

Posted: June 28, 4:52 AM

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This seems to come up from time to time. For what it's worth, here's CRPG Addict's definition of a CRPG:

A computer game that adopts the mechanical conventions of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), including attributes, inventories, experience and leveling, and probability-based combat. Please note that "playing a role" is not a distinguishing characteristic of a CRPG. You play a role in almost every computer game.

Star Traders would definitely fit this I think.

jdzappa wrote:

Is it too late to second Greedfall?

Yep, ubrakto beat you to it.

Redherring

Posted: June 28, 6:58 AM

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This is why I love these clubs, had never even heard of Fell Seal until today.

Sorbicol

Posted: June 28, 9:28 PM

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We now have slightly less than 24 hours to go before the initial nomination round closes - still time to get some nomination and seconding in you desire! We now have the following games accounted for:

Nominated & Seconded:

Wildermyth
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Wasteland 3
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark
Star Traders: Frontiers

Nominated only:

Mass Effect 3
Torchlight
Kenshi

SillyRabbit

Posted: June 28, 9:35 PM

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I just checked out Fell Seal, not sure if it's been mentioned but it is 75% off on Steam until July 7. It looks really fun, and I'm going to go ahead and grab it with the DLC for $10.73. I think this will end up high on my vote list.

Sorbicol

Posted: June 28, 10:02 PM

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SillyRabbit wrote:

I just checked out Fell Seal, not sure if it's been mentioned but it is 75% off on Steam until July 7. It looks really fun, and I'm going to go ahead and grab it with the DLC for $10.73. I think this will end up high on my vote list.

Steam sale close on the 7th July so the aim here is to have the next game lined the end of this weekend so there are a couple of days left to pick up the game.

SillyRabbit

Posted: June 28, 10:41 PM

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Ha, I totally missed the fact that the summer sale had started. Nothing gets past me!

Sorbicol

Posted: June 29, 4:14 PM

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OK.

4 hour warning - give or take - for nominations. If there's anything else you'd like considered, now is the time.

If we don't get any more I will probably move straight to ranked votes given we only have 7 nominated and seconded games.

Zilla Blitz

Posted: June 29, 6:17 PM

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I'll second Kenshi!

*Legion*

Posted: June 29, 7:42 PM

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Zilla Blitz wrote:

I'll second Kenshi!

Kenshi is 60% off in the Steam Sale, and is the game I will be advocating for every single vote until we finally play it. I think the insane amount of flexibility and randomness would make for a discussion thread full of unique playthrough stories.

I think the best argument for Kenshi is the Steam reviews, many of which are just stories of how things unfolded in someone's playthrough, no two of which are alike:

I met my best friend in slavery, and he sacrificed himself so I could get away. It's been months, Hotlongs. I will set you free one day. I miss you

I enslaved the dictator of a nation hell bent on the destruction of all robots. Once enslaved, I systematically removed his limbs and replaced them with robot limbs, essentially making him a living embarrassment to his entire nation.

My plan backfired: his hatred fueled him and when he escaped he beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of my villagers with his hardened steel hands and feet.

Lost a leg, bled out crawling through the desert, rescued by slavers, became a slave, became a master locksmith, crawled to my freedom, slithered around peoples homes at night, learned to steal, incarcerated again, rinse, repeat. Finally made some money, hired a man to carry me, named the brute Hodor, travelled the world, found a new leg, became a master thief, almost died +20 more times, hired many more members, started massive rum operation which grows into a full living city.

Now I stand atop my tower as Hodor trains armies to raze slaver encampments, as my scientists build state of the art prosthetics, as my logistic and agricultural personnel fuel the operation, as my turret gaurds shoot slavers for practice, as my smiths craft armor and blades 10 times more expensive than what I was appraised as a slave. There will be blood.

I decide to go on a nightly stealing spree with my thief. Usually I can get pretty good pickings, but sometimes I have to run for my life and wait for things to dial down.

My thief is picking through the shopkeeper's belongings, when a camel-like beast from the caravan wanders into the shop with her. Turns out my thief left the door open - she's still new at this. Now, these camels wander all throughout buildings in town, so this is normal behavior for the camel. Only this time the camel is in a shop after dark, and this camel is pretty loud, so it wakes the shopkeeper upstairs.

My thief runs for it, closing the door behind her. The shopkeeper runs downstairs only to find the camel. And this is where Kenshi becomes Kenshi.

In most games I've played, this would be treated as a glitch. Nothing would happen. The camels aren't supposed to wander into the shop after dark, so this would just be aberrant behavior.

Instead, the shopkeeper sees the camel, thinks it's busting up his shop, and starts to attack the camel. The camel fights back. Pretty soon, the shop guard is fighting the camel too. The caravan guards join in the fray, and then the whole town erupts into fighting. It's the caravan vs. the town guards. The town guards win out, and there are bodies and prisoners everywhere. My thief takes advantage of the situation to pick the bodies clean of any loot. She's cold-hearted like that.

Sorbicol

Posted: June 29, 8:17 PM

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OK. Times Up.

Pick 6 Voting time

So we have 8 candidates entering the Pick 6 Round, looking to be one of the games to make it to ranked choice voting.

In this voting round, pick up to 6 candidates that you'd like to play. This is an unranked round, so just list them in any order. We have some new games, some older games, and a few slightly out there choices.

This round will run until 9pm GMT on Friday, 1st July. At that point, the top 5-7 vote getters will be carried over to our ranked voting round. (If two games are tied for 6th place, we'll carry both games to the final round. If more than 2 games are tied for 6th place, we'll drop them and carry 5 games to the final round.)

The Nominees:

Wildermyth £14.61 (~$17) - 55.5 hours
Skyrim Special Edition £11.54 (~$14) - 116 hours
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen £3.83 (~$5) - 55.5 Hours
Wasteland 3 £10.22 (~$12) 49.5 Hours
Greedfall £11.99 (~$15) 41.5 hours
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark £5.99 (~$7) 51.5 Hours
Star Traders: Frontiers £5.69 (~$7) 31 hours
Kenshi £9.19 (~$11) 166 hours

All prices are Steam Sale prices, I've estimated the US Dollar prices as I don't have a VPN to check.

Sorry, no place for Torchlight or Mass Effect 3!

Quick List for easy voting:

Wildermyth
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Wasteland 3
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Star Traders: Frontiers
Kenshi

*Legion*

Posted: June 29, 8:24 PM

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Kenshi
Wasteland 3
Fell Seal
Star Traders
Wildermyth

Stele

Posted: June 29, 8:34 PM

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Wildermyth
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark (cross play)
Star Traders: Frontiers
Kenshi

Legion convinced me on Kenshi. But I've had Wildermyth on my list for a while. If one wins I will buy. The other 2 I already own but need to play more.

Shawnosaurus

Posted: June 29, 8:35 PM

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Wildermyth
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Star Traders: Frontiers

Sundown

Posted: June 29, 8:40 PM

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Wildermyth
Wasteland 3
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

brokenclavicle

Posted: June 29, 8:46 PM

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Wasteland 3
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

Zilla Blitz

Posted: June 29, 9:00 PM

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So many good games in here! Here are my six...

Dragon's Dogma
Wasteland 3
Greedfall
Skyrim
Star Traders: Frontiers
Kenshi

EDIT: Slightly tweaked this after posting. Dropped Fell Seal since it's the JRPG choice and added Skyrim instead.

merphle

Posted: June 29, 9:07 PM

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D-Dog is the only thing I'd consider playing at this point, likely with numerous mods, so:

Dragon's Dogma

beanman101283

Posted: June 29, 9:21 PM

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Dragon's Dogma
Skyrim
Fell Feal

Math

Posted: June 29, 9:53 PM

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Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Greedfall

gewy

Posted: June 30, 1:31 AM

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Wildermyth
Skyrim
Dragon's Dogma
Wasteland 3
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

jdzappa

Posted: June 30, 2:22 AM

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Fell Seal
Skyrim
Wildermyth
Greedfall

Redherring

Posted: June 30, 2:57 AM

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Wildermyth
Dragon's Dogma
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

SillyRabbit

Posted: June 30, 4:15 AM

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Kenshi
Fell Seal
Dragon's Dogma
Greedfall

Hardek

Posted: June 30, 4:30 AM

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Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Kenshi
Wildermyth
Greedfall
Star Traders: Frontiers

ubrakto

Posted: June 30, 11:50 AM

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Wildermyth
Skyrim
Greedfall
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Star Traders: Frontiers
Kenshi

Finally looked at Kenshi, and yeah, OK, I could get on board that train. This ended up being a tough list to whittle down, as all of them have something of interest to me (surprisingly). Dropping Dragon's Dogma and Wasteland 3 was basically throwing darts blindfolded.

The GWJ cRPG Club Main Thread Part 2 - Now Playing Kenshi

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